Works of Charles and Mary Lamb. VI-VII. Letters
Charles Lamb to Thomas Manning, [16 October 1800]
DEAR Manning,—Had you written one week before you did, I certainly
should have obeyed your injunction; you should have seen me before my letter. I
will explain to you my situation. ![]()
| 190 | LETTERS OF C. AND M. LAMB | Oct. |
![]()
There are six
of us in one department. Two of us (within these four days) are confined with
severe fevers; and two more, who belong to the Tower Militia, expect to have
marching orders on Friday. Now six are absolutely necessary. I have already
asked and obtained two young hands to supply the loss of the feverites; and, with the other prospect before me, you may believe I
cannot decently ask leave of absence for myself. All I can promise (and I do
promise with the sincerity of Saint Peter, and the
contrition of sinner Peter if I fail) that I will come the
very first spare week, and go nowhere till I have been at Cambridge. No matter
if you are in a state of pupilage when I come; for I can employ myself in
Cambridge very pleasantly in the mornings. Are there not libraries, halls,
colleges, books, pictures, statues? I wish to God you had made London in your
way. There is an exhibition quite uncommon in Europe, which could not have
escaped your genius,—a live rattlesnake, ten feet in length, and the thickness
of a big leg. I went to see it last night by candlelight. We were ushered into
a room very little bigger than ours at Pentonville. A man and woman and four
boys live in this room, joint tenants with nine snakes, most of them such as no
remedy has been discovered for their bite. We walked into the middle, which is
formed by a half-moon of wired boxes, all mansions of snakes,—whip-snakes,
thunder-snakes, pig-nose-snakes, American vipers, and this monster. He lies
curled up in folds; and immediately a stranger enters (for he is used to the
family, and sees them play at cards,) he set up a rattle like a
watchman’s in London, or near as loud, and reared up a head, from the
midst of these folds, like a toad, and shook his head, and showed every sign a
snake can show of irritation. I had the foolish curiosity to strike the wires
with my finger, and the devil flew at me with his toad-mouth wide open: the
inside of his mouth is quite white. I had got my finger away, nor could he well
have bit me with his damn’d big mouth, which would have been certain
death in five minutes. But it frightened me so much, that I did not recover my
voice for a minute’s space. I forgot, in my fear, that he was secured.
You would have forgot too, for ’tis incredible how such a monster can be
confined in small gauzy-looking wires. I dreamed of snakes in the night. I wish
to heaven you could see it. He absolutely swelled with passion to the bigness
of a large thigh. I could not retreat without infringing on another box, and
just behind, a little devil not an inch from my back, had got his nose out,
with some difficulty and pain, quite through the bars! He was soon taught
better manners. All the snakes were curious, and objects of terror: but this
monster, like Aaron’s serpent, swallowed up the
impression of the rest. He opened his damn’d mouth, when he made at me,
as wide as his head ![]()
| 1800 | “THE FARMER’S BOY” | 191 |
![]()
was broad. I hallooed out quite
loud, and felt pains all over my body with the fright.
I have had the felicity of hearing George Dyer read out one book of “The Farmer’s Boy.”
I thought it rather childish. No doubt, there is originality in it, (which, in
your self-taught geniuses, is a most rare quality, they generally getting hold
of some bad models in a scarcity of books, and forming their taste on them,)
but no selection. All is described.
Mind, I have only heard read one book.
Yours sincerely,
Philo-Snake,
C. L.
George Dyer (1755-1841)
English poet, antiquary, and friend of Charles Lamb; author of
Poems
and Critical Essays (1802),
Poetics: or a Series of Poems and
Disquisitions on Poetry, 2 vols (1812),
History of the
University and Colleges of Cambridge, 2 vols (1814) and other works.
Thomas Manning (1772-1840)
Educated at Caius College, Cambridge, he traveled in China and Tibet, and was a life-long
friend of Charles Lamb.
